The delineation of the world’s international river basins has not been undertaken by any formal body since 1978. Researchers with the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database have attempted to fill this void through the 1999 Register, with online updates and currently with the present study. This current register delineates 310 international river basins, reflecting changes in political boundaries and increased data quality. These basins are shared by 150 countries and disputed areas, cover 47.1% of the Earth’s land surface and include 52% of the world’s population. This paper lists all international river systems, their basin areas, their riparian states and their respective territorial percentages.

Much has been written on hydropolitics, or on the interplays between transboundary water resource issues and politics. This article builds on recent calls for more research on the role of discourses in shaping hydropolitics. We propose a conceptual framework, inspired by critical discourse analysis, for the systematic investigation of how discursive practices construct and enact actors’ power positions in transboundary basin governance. Our framework’s added value lies in the typology of discourses we develop – that is, dominant, institutionalized, hegemonic and sanctioned – for a more precise analysis of discursive hydropolitics. We formulate a research agenda to operationalize our perspective on discursive hydropolitics and lay the groundwork for future empirical research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial assessment of Egypt's plan to resettle population from the Nile Valley to the Western Desert. Known popularly as the Toshka Project, it is formally titled the National Project for the Development of Upper Egypt (NPDUE). The resettlement scheme is entirely dependent on the provision of a reliable source of freshwater. This water will be taken from Lake Nassar, behind the Aswan High Dam, and pumped through a series of canals into the desert, thereby allowing for irrigated agriculture. Through an extensive review of government documents and interviews with both government officials and Egyptian residents (who might be asked to move to the desert), we were able to develop a basic understanding of the project and a preliminary assessment of its potential for success. This was accomplished despite the paucity of published information about the project. To assess the possible success of the project, we looked at six key factors: economic, donor investment, demographics, water availability, technical, and environmental. In the end, it appears that the success of the Toshka project is highly dependent on a continued source of private capital. This capital is expected to come from other Arab countries, and, to date, the major investor in Toshka is Saudi Prince Al Walid. The Egyptian government claims that public investment in the project will be no more than 20 to 25 percent of the total, and adhering to this claim will be important; higher levels of public investment are likely to increase inflationary pressures in the country. The paper concludes with an assessment of whether the potential impacts of the project—whether economic, demographic, or environmental—are likely to offset the projected benefits of resettling seven million people out of the densely populated Nile Valley.

Despite the importance of water management in Islamic culture, the role of religion has been underemphasized by scholars. Using the three criteria of equity, responsibility and sustainability, this study aims to assess whether Islamic water management principles are incorporated into the revision of the transboundary Helmand River Basin under the administration of the Taliban regime. In August 2021, Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, with a goal of ruling Afghanistan based on Islamic Sharia law, presumably including the management of the transboundary watercourses. One such basin is the Helmand, shared with the downstream Islamic Republic of Iran, with whom Afghanistan will likely revisit the transboundary Helmand River Treaty, possibly based on Islamic water management principles. We examine how principles of Islamic code may influence future negotiations, including the construction of dams on the upper Helmand River Basin initiated under the former administration.

In 1876, John Wesley Powell, the leader of the first organized expedition down the Colorado River, submitted his Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States to Congress. Among his observations on U.S. settlement policies in the deserts of the Southwest, was his belief, as described by Marc Reisner (1986), that state boundaries were often nonsensical ... In the We.st, where the one thing that really mattered was water, states should logically be formed around watersheds ... To divide the West any other way was to sow the future with rivalries, jealousies, and bitter squabbles whose fruits would contribute solely to the nourishment of lawyers.